Gino’s Italian Restaurant, Muskogee, OK

Ian and I had lunch at Gino’s last Sunday. We were in Muskogee to do some serious cleaning-out in a storage locker there, and we fueled up with carbs beforehand.

We had very nice and crusty bread as an appetizer. I asked for some marinara to dip it in, and our server brought us two soup bowls of the stuff. Excellent.

I had chicken fettuccine alfredo and Ian had chicken parmesan. Both were excellent. His chicken was tender and flavorful, and the breading and marinara were perfect. He didn’t have much of the spaghetti, but I’ve been working on him to have more. My alfredo was rich, the egg noodles perfectly al dente, and the chicken added its own flavor. All in all, and excellent meal. The iced tea was also very good.

The check for the two of us was $26.61. Service was a bit slow due to the fact that the place was crowded, pretty much full, with a Sunday afternoon post-church crowd, including several largish groups.

Now for a slight mystery. I had considered eating at Napoli’s there in Muskogee. Napoli’s was superior food, and I had eaten there several times, but was closed, another restaurant was in the building. Napoli’s, I had troubled myself to find out some time later, was a family business started in Guymon, OK, and then spread over a couple years to numerous other locations. Raegan and I ate at a Napoli’s in Duncan, and I had eaten at a location in Tahlequah, and we had all been to one in Ponca City. They are that good. One of the signature dishes of Napoli’s is Spaghetti The Works, which is a huge plate of spaghetti with meat sauce, mushroooms, sausage, and meat balls (it’s excellent). A couple years ago, we ate at an Italian restaurant called Roma’s. It had the same menu as Napoli’s, right down to Spaghetti The Works. I asked our server (who was also a manager) if the restaurant was affiliated with Napoli’s, and he said “who”? I didn’t give it much more thought. But, right there on the Gino’s menu, was Spaghetti The Works. The rest of menu was pretty much a copy of Napoli’s.

So I wonder what’s up with that? I wonder if there are family members that aren’t with the program, or if the family has licensed out the concept? I may have to shoot someone an email if I remember to.